Key result
24-hour sleep deprivation increases amygdala activity and weakens vmPFC regulation during fear memory consolidation.
Why the study?
The impact of sleep deprivation on the acquisition of fear and subsequent fear memory consolidation remains unclear.
Does 24 hours of sleep deprivation alter fear memory consolidation and associated brain activity in human subjects?
Does 24 hours of sleep deprivation alter fear memory consolidation and associated brain activity in human subjects?
Sleep deprivation may impair the top-down regulation of the amygdala by the ventromedial prefrontal cortex during fear memory consolidation.
Answers are grounded in this paper and cite their sources.
Sleep deprivation may impair fear regulation; hypothesis-generating for anxiety risk and requires clinical confirmation.
Fear is a biologically adaptive response to an environmental threat, and fear learning plays a key role in adaptive function. Sleep deprivation (SD) serves a crucial role in the process of fear memory consolidation. However, the impact of sleep deprivation on the acquisition of fear and subsequent fear memory consolidation remains unclear. Thus, the present study measured human brain activity before and after fear acquisition under conditions of 24 h of sleep deprivation and normal sleep using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging. Behaviorally, the SD group exhibited greater fear ratings and skin conductance responses (SCR) than the control group at the fear acquisition stage. Critically, neuroimaging results revealed that at the fear memory consolidation stage, amygdala exhibited increased activity in the SD group, whereas ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) exhibited increased activity in the control group. Moreover, at the fear acquisition stage, the change in the activity in the amygdala during fear memory consolidation was positively correlated with fear ratings and SCR in the SD group. However, at the fear acquisition stage, the change in activity in the vmPFC was positively correlated with fear ratings in the control group. Taken together, these findings suggest that SD may weaken the top-down ability of the vmPFC to regulate the amygdala during fear memory consolidation.
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Feng et al. (2018) studied Fear memory consolidation. 24 h of sleep deprivation vs. Normal sleep was evaluated on Brain activity, fear ratings, and skin conductance responses. 24 hours of sleep deprivation increased amygdala activity and weakened the top-down ability of the vmPFC to regulate the amygdala during fear memory consolidation compared to normal sleep.
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